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Jos. A. Bank's (JOSB) Earnings Prove It's Doing Fine On Its Own

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It put itself on the line earlier this year and got rejected. But Jos. A. Bank(JOSB - Get Report) is putting its money where its mouth is, proving it's a catch. The retailer offered to purchase larger competitor Men's Wearhouse(MW - Get Report) for $2.3 billion in October to which it received a big "no." The tables were turned when in late November it became victim to a $1.5 billion takeover attempt by the very same company it had hoped to acquire.

However, Jos. A. Bank's third-quarter results prove the retailer is doing just fine on its own. The company reported a 6.3% sales increase to $247.5 million from the year-ago quarter; sales were $2.5 million higher than analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected. Adjusted net income of 51 cents a share beat consensus by 2 cents and was 9% higher than a year earlier.

While comparable-store sales slipped negligibly to 0.1%, direct marketing sales exploded 23.5%. Comparable sales, including those via the company's Web site, increased 2.4%. The Maryland-based business, which previously relied on buy-one-get-one deals to drive sales, has since shifted to straightforward discounts and the strategy appears to be working.

"The customer is responding well to the changes we are making in the promotional side of our business and our non-promotional business continues to grow strongly. This was evident in our improving sales trend, both in stores and online, as well as in our marketing efficiency," said CEO Neal Black in a statement.

Black said the company has seen a sales boost across all channels during November, though he cautioned "the pivotal month of December is still ahead of us."

Though up in premarket trading, shares moved lower early Thursday, falling 0.4% to $56.66. Year to date, the stock has grown 32.6%.

TheStreet Ratings team rates JoS. A. Bank Clothiers Inc as a Buy with a ratings score of B. The team has this to say about its recommendation:

"We rate JoS. A. Bank Clothiers Inc (JOSB) a BUY. This is driven by several positive factors, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, expanding profit margins and increase in stock price during the past year. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat weak growth in earnings per share."

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